Eurozone crisis

Greek aid will go to the banks

Published on 9 March 2012 at 14:09

"Where are the 130 billion euros of aid to Greece going?" The response by Die Gazette is unequivocal: financial institutions outside of Greece will get 40 percent of the rescue package, Greek banks 23 percent, and the European Central Bank 18 percent. The remaining 19 percent are earmarked for financing needs in Greece itself.

In other words, more than 80 percent of the rescue package is going to creditors – that is to say, to banks outside of Greece and to the ECB. The billions of taxpayer euros are not saving Greece. They’re saving the banks.

For the German quarterly, the ambition to reduce the country's debt from 160 percent to 120 percent of GDP by 2020 is an “illusion”.

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